Aubrey Beardsley:

An Inventory of His Collection at the Harry Ransom Humanities
Research Center

Beardsley, an
accomplished illustrator despite his short life inspired a great number of
letters. The collection is composed almost exclusively of correspondence.
Letters from Beardsley to his patron, André Raffalovich, make up about
one-third of the collection while letters from scholar Rainforth Walker to
Beardsley collector Dr. Adolphe Severn round out the collection.

RLIN Record #

TXRC94-A8

Extent

2 boxes

Language

English.

Repository

Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center,
University of Texas at Austin

Aubrey Vincent Beardsley was born in Brighton on 21 August 1872 and
early showed artistic ability, acting and playing in concerts with his sister
Mabel and producing drawings of recognized merit. The Beardsley family's means
were modest, and by 1888 Aubrey had quit school to work as a clerk. At the age
of nineteen Aubrey Beardsley embarked on a career as an illustrator, and with
the encouragement of Pierre Puvis de Chavannes in France and Joseph Pennell in
England he quickly made a name for himself. His fame was ensured with the
publication of the Dent edition of Malory's
Le Morte Darthur in 1892, and by the
following year the "Beardsley boom" was in full
flower.

In 1894 Beardsley became the art editor of
The Yellow Book under the general editorship
of Oscar Wilde, but his advancing tuberculosis and Wilde's arrest put an end to
that satirical periodical before 1895 was out. Beardsley's increasingly poor
health forced his move from health resort to health resort, but under the
patronage of André Raffalovich he continued, despite severe difficulties, to
produce his drawings. In 1896 alone he created numerous illustrations for
The Savoy, The Rape of the Lock, and
Lysistrata.

During 1897 Aubrey Beardsley's health continued to decline as serious
work became increasingly difficult and his creative output dwindled. His death
occurred at Menton, France, on 16 March 1898.

Adolphe Gladstone Millott Severn was a British physician as well as a
student and collector of Beardsley.

The Aubrey Beardsley materials comprise a large group of letters
Beardsley wrote to his patron André Raffalovich and others between 1893 and
Beardsley's death in 1898, together with a larger body of letters art scholar
R. A. Walker wrote to Beardsley collector A. G. M. Severn between 1943 and
1959.

The Beardsley letters to Raffalovich represent virtually the entirety of
those transcribed in
The Letters of Aubrey Beardsley ; the
correspondence with others number fewer than ten pieces.

The Walker-Severn correspondence deals broadly with Beardsley as an
artist and as a subject of collector interest with an occasional aside on the
personal lives of the two correspondents.

Series I. Beardsley correspondence,
1893-1898(1 box)

The 165 letters Beardsley wrote to André Raffalovich in the last
three years of the artist's life form the core of the series. In these
Beardsley discusses his work, health, social life, and religious beliefs. The
artist's appreciation of Raffalovich's financial and moral assistance is
regularly expressed.

Other recipients of Beardsley's correspondents include T. Dove
Keighley, David Nutt, and Leonard Smithers. These men are represented by a
half-dozen letters of the years 1893 to 1897 dealing with business matters.

Series II. Severn materials,
1897-1959(1 box)

A shared interest in the art and person of Aubrey Beardsley was the
basis of Dr. Severn's extensive correspondence with Rainforth Walker. The
250-odd letters Walker wrote Severn comprise the majority of the correspondence
in the series, supplemented by a small number of letters Severn received from
others in the years 1942-52. Also included are a number of third party letters
dating from 1908 to 1951 written by Ellen Beardsley, Frederick H. Evans, Robert
Ross and others.

The miscellaneous materials present in the series relate to
Beardsley and were probably separated from Walker's correspondence to Severn.
Included are clippings, dealers' lists, photographic prints and negatives, wax
seal impressions, and notes.